Prof. Prathibha Mahanamahewa has emphasised the need to examine the circumstances under which the court staff executed the bail bond, and the release process, in respect of the late Kapila Chandrasena, former Chief Executive Officer of SriLankan Airlines.

Chandrasena’s body was found in a house at Pedris Road, Colombo 03.

In case of any doubt regarding bail condition/s or any other matter (insufficient surety, identity issues, suspicious documents and unclear order), the Registrar had to get in touch with the relevant Magistrate, Mahanamahewa said.

Mahanamahewa was responding to The Island query regarding the acceptance of two Muslims as sureties. Had they followed the time-tested procedure, court registry/registrar staff would never have accepted sureties as blood relatives of Chandrasena, Mahanamahewa said, alleging a major defect in the execution of the bail bond.

They were arrested by police and remanded by the Colombo Magistrate’s court, till 13 May, pending further investigations.

Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodharagama, on 5 May, granted to Chandrasena cash bail of Rs. 500,000 and three surety bails of Rs. 10 million each. But soon after Chandrasena received bail, the court was told that two of the Rs. 10 million sureties had been produced, after payment of Rs. 15,000 each, were made to those two individuals to act as guarantors.

The bail application had been submitted by Rienzie Arsecularatne, PC, appearing on behalf of Kapila Chandrasena, when the case was earlier taken up, on 28 April.

Police also arrested an elderly person who arranged for the two persons who hadn’t even seen Chandrasena, even once, to offer themselves as sureties.

As soon as the police revealed the fraudulent manner Chandrasena obtained bail, Chief Magistrate Bodharagama issued an order to arrest and produce him before the court. This order was issued consequent to a request made by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), on the grounds that the defendant had violated bail conditions. The CIABOC wanted Chandrasena held pending the conclusion of the case.

Sources familiar with the execution of bail bond said that the moment the suspects had submitted their National Identity Cards and letters from Grama Sevakas, the court registry/registrar staff should have rejected them. In a such high-profile case, the failure on the part of the lawyers, representing Chandrasena, to check the gsureties’ relationship with Chandrasena, was another glaring shortcoming, sources said, pointing out that after having submitted bail application on 28 April, the defence team should have come prepared to put forward genuine guarantors.

The Island contacted the Bar Association of Sri Lanka for comment on the manner in which the court staff had handled bail for Chandrasena, but there was no response.

Sri Lanka’s former Ambassador to Moscow, accredited to Kiev, Udayanga Weeratunga, said that a thorough investigation should be conducted to ascertain facts about the execution of the bail bond. Asked whether he had been in touch with Chandrasena, Weeratunga said that he spent his first day at Welikada with Chandrasena and Ranjan Ramanayake in one cell. “That happened on 14 February, 2020. I was arrested when I returned to the country, from the UAE, and produced before the then Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake, the incumbent Director General of CIABOC,” Weeratunga said.

Weeratunga said that a couple of months after the change of government in 2024, the US State Department imposed a travel ban on him and Chandrasena and their families over what the US termed as significant corruption.

Weeratunga said that altogether the US designated 14 persons and, of them, two were Sri Lankan, who happened to be him and Chandrasena, accused of corruption in respect of acquisition of MiG 27s from Ukraine and the Airbus deal, during President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s tenure as the President.

SLPP sources said that Chandrasena’s demise shouldn’t prevent proper investigation on his affidavit that claimed pressure brought on him to name Mahinda Rajapaksa as a recipient of the Airbus bribe.

By Shamindra Ferdinando